Born to serve till 62?
YESTERDAY, DDT was flooded with calls from Officers in the Revenue department asking for confirmation of the news that they had read in a pink paper - that a proposal to increase the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 62 years snaked its way to the Cabinet but a decision was deferred - deferred for announcement from the ramparts of the Red Fort by the Prime Minister in his Independence Day address (his last before the general elections in 2014).
There are around fifty lakh central government employees in India and whether they would like to continue beyond the current retirement age is another question - with promotions nowhere to be seen they are a dejected lot and may be two more years of service may or may not prolong their dejection. The last time when the retirement age was increased by an increment of 2 years was in the year 1998 when it was raised from 58 to 60.
There was this interesting incident doing the rounds those days - an officer who had had a few months to attain 58 requested the BOSS to give him a sensitive posting - he wanted to retire a contended man and the BOSS agreed, much to the chagrin of others well connected. But then, they too felt it was only a matter of months and left it at that. The 2+ year announcement made these officers sulk in disbelief and the about to retire officer thanked his stars more than anything else. He completed his full tenure in the sensitive range and bid goodbye to the department truly and fully contended!
As for the pink paper announcement, at the moment it is better to give it a pink slip.
After all, it is prudent to wait and watch, for the Independence Day is only 10 days away.